Lenten Reflection 18: Great Expectations

Read: Matthew 21:6-11

⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. ⁸ Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  ⁹ And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” ¹⁰ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

On what we now call “Palm Sunday”, Jesus left Bethany and began making his way toward Jerusalem. There were huge crowds gathered for the Passover celebration who heard he was coming. Some, we read, put their coats on the road and others broke palm branches off and placed them on the ground.

There is nothing in the Passover celebration that called for using palm branches. However, when Simon the Maccabee drove the Syrian forces out of Jerusalem two hundred years earlier, he was greeted upon his return to the city with music and crowds waving palm branches. They had also been used when the temple had been rededicated and became a symbol of Jewish nationalism. During the Jewish wars against Rome, insurgents would make coins using a palm branch as a symbol for the Jewish hope of reclaiming their nation.

As Jesus enters Jerusalem, the people wave palm branches because they believed a messianic deliverer was coming to rescue them. Even more, they shouted “Hosanna” which means, “give salvation now”. During some feasts, when Psalm 118 would be read, every man and boy would wave “lulabs” (a few shots of willow and myrtle tied to a palm) when Psalm 118:25 was read and “Hosanna!” shouted.

As Jesus entered Jerusalem, the people expected he was the messianic deliverer they had been waiting for. They expected he would gather an army and lead a revolution. But Jesus had a different agenda. His concern wasn’t a nation. It wasn’t reclaiming the land. Jesus’ priority was spiritual. It was worship and love and obedience and intimacy with God the Father. It was breaking the yoke of sin so that people could live freely for God. It was bringing hope and life so the people walking in darkness could walk in the kingdom of light.

On Palm Sunday, the people rightly proclaimed Jesus, “king”, but wrongly understood what that meant. They expected something different. What expectations do people today have for Jesus? What expectations do you have for Jesus?

When you pray, what is your main focus – physical or spiritual? Clearly Jesus blessed people with physical healing and provision in his ministry, but was that his priority? What should be ours?

If Jesus was to ask you, “What do you want me to do for you?” How would you answer? What would it look like for Jesus to answer that prayer? Is there anything you need to change in preparation for when he would answer?

What does it mean that Jesus is King? How does it affect the way you live or think?

How could you bless or encourage someone today by sharing these truths?